Ran across a post about Gleeking recently. What other strange body things could our peers do? Also the double jointed kids, how is your arthritis?

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bikeonychus@reddit

Double-jointed kid here who used to scratch the crown of their head with their toes.

Yeah, so about that - it's actually hypermobility, and I'm on the waitlist for being tested for Ehler's Danloss Syndrome. Most of my joints won't stop subluxing/dislocating, particularly my neck, which is scary. Yes, I have arthritis from it, and degenerative disc disease. It's not been fun.

If you or someone you love is bendy and has a lot of clicky joints, get them screened for hypermobility/EDS, because going undiagnosed for 40 years because you believe everyone when they say you just suck, really bites.

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Jclark36816@reddit

I’m hypermobile but not EDS. I still love freaking out my husband when weird joints pop. Still no arthritis but it’s gotta be coming 🤞🏼

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EnoughMeow@reddit

Did everyone hit you with the ADHD diagnosis also

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badchefrazzy@reddit

They fought against me having it as the whole lie of "girl's not getting ADHD" but lemme tell you do I HAAAAVE it. Still undiagnosed for medical reasons, but there's absolutely no denying it if you know my history.

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FormidableMistress@reddit

My little brother was diagnosed in 93. I asked my mom to have me tested too because I could tell my brain didn't work like other kids. She said "Oh there's nothing wrong with you, you're the smart one." Jfc mom, way to make everyone feel like shit in one sentence.

Mom was 1 of 8 kids. Out of all of their grandkids very few are neurotypical. At least we're learning how to help kids like us.

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badchefrazzy@reddit

If you can afford it, get yourself tested, bring your mom with you, but don't let her answer anything for you. Watch the look on her face when you get diagnosed with it if she doesn't try to act like she knew it the whole time.

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FormidableMistress@reddit

Oh no, I won't be doing that. She's a malignant narcissist that's somehow a cross between Mother Gothel and the Other Mother from Coraline. We don't speak.

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Ahh so it'd be like bringing my aunt. Gotcha. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that shit :(

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FormidableMistress@reddit

Eh it is what it is. I'm sorry your aunt sucks. Just think, one day we'll wake up and they won't. Huzzah!

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Here's fuckin hopin'! CHEERS TO THAT! <3

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mischievous_misfit13@reddit

I was diagnosed at 40 and was like “ohhhh life makes so much more sense now!”

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bikeonychus@reddit

Well, my daughter is diagnosed AuDHD 😅

My husband has severe ADHD. My dad is absolutely Autistic, and I honestly don't know if I am Autistic or have ADHD, but I know I'm not Neurotypical, and perimenopause seems to be confirming that without a doubt, but I haven't followed a diagnosis, because kiddos diagnoses were expensive, and to be honest, I just want the EDS properly diagnosed, so I can get pain medicine without doctors assuming I'm a junkie.

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

Google EDS Pentad. And that doesn’t even include ADHD. i have all 6.

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Ineedavodka2019@reddit

How long is the wait list? We got an appointment for my son for genetic testing for EDS and Marfans within 3 months. It’s in January. Good luck!

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bikeonychus@reddit

Thankyou! Last year, I was told 2 years. Last week I was told I'll get a call within 3 months because I had been bumped up the list as my spines giving up.

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Ineedavodka2019@reddit

I’m sorry to hear it is taking so long.

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CicaCariad@reddit

Bendy kid here and I deffo got undiagnosed this and that 😆 I got hip, knee and jaw issues. My jaw scored me shitloads of beer in my young stupid years and now paying for it!

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ttredraider2000@reddit

This is my daughter. She's 15 and has EDS, POTS, MCAS (the "trifecta"), and ankylosing spondylitis (rheumatoid arthritis in the lower spine). I have degenerative disc disease in my neck, which is most likely related to undiagnosed hypermobility. I have been in pain since 13yo and fear for my daughter's quality of life in the future.

Also, hang in there if genetic testing comes back normal. The most common form of EDS (hypermobility type) doesn't currently have a genetic test.

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

I have Hashimotos, POTS, MCAS, and long covid. I’m seeing an integrative doctor who is finally making my life easier to live.

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

I don’t have EDS but many friends do! Hope you get a dx soon!

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Heart_Love@reddit

I was also bendy as a kid (and it was very much praised in my ballet classes!), and it didn’t bother me then, but it has finally caught up to me now. 45 years of standing and walking apparently incorrectly have made me hurt all the time now. Relearning how to stand and walking apparently incorrectly is both embarrassing and really fascinating.

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mischievous_misfit13@reddit

I can bend my fingers back 90 degrees and teacher would tell me to stop because I was grossing them out.

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temporary_bob@reddit

This whole thread is freaking me out because my daughter (11) is very bendy and somewhat hyper mobile in her fingers and upper body. Pretty sure no signs of ADHD/autism though... Just a touch of anxiety like me. Now I'm wondering if I should get her tested for EDS :(

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RhubarbGoldberg@reddit

Yes, this. I'm another bendy kid who is still a very bendy adult and it turns out we have connective tissue disorders, hahaha. I mean, it's not funny, but laughing is easier than being irate over how many childhood issues were chalked up to "growing pains" and how my hyoermobility was encouraged by so many adults, especially sports coaches.

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PrincessSarahHippo@reddit

I'm a very bendy person- I can do everything on the Beighton scale test with no problems despite being overweight and sedentary. I have degenerative disc disease but have been told that it's super common in people our age.

I suffered a few nasty sprains and injuries due to joints bending the wrong way and have some arthritis in one knee as a result. But mostly I suppose I have been lucky. I have always appreciated my hypermobility because my mother has an unusually severe case of rheumatoid arthritis and is now a wheelchair user. Being able to see the opposite end of the spectrum is illuminating.

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TheSentientSnail@reddit

I also have hypermobility, but it doesn't quite qualify for EDS. It's mostly in my shoulders, elbows, and hips. I can also do the 'double jointed finger' thing, and DDD of C5 thru C7. Even without EDS, hypermobile joints can cause an endless list of struggles.

I recently ruptured the extensor tendon in my elbow. Doc said it was likely due to constant overextension. Hurt like a rat bastard and physio was a complete bitch because the therapist couldn't 'work' the tendon properly. He was pulling my wrist and arm every which way trying to find the angle where I actually felt the stretch.

I give my shoulders about five years before they're toast, too. 🙃

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

You’re not wrong. But having a diagnosis doesn’t actually change that much. People still say you are just weak and lazy and flexible.

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bikeonychus@reddit

I know, there's no cure, no real fix etc etc, but at least it will mean it's on my medical records, and I can get my daughter tested so she doesn't go through 40+ years of diagnosis hell like I did.

And shit, if people are still judgy, I will care less, because I'll know they're just assholes, and not correct assholes.

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Future_Ad6558@reddit

As a fellow EDS-haver, I endorse this statement.

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SweetPrism@reddit

I know this surpasses just our generation, but there was always that flipped eyelid kid. Also, habitual knuckle crackers...

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Jclark36816@reddit

I’m double jointed in some joints (I just have some loose ligaments really) and crack everything, not just knuckles. So far no arthritis! Nor are my hands all bent and gnarled like crazy aunt Patti swore they would be.

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Petraaki@reddit

I was a flipped eyelid kid, just tried to do it again with only a split second of success. Maybe my skin's no longer stretchy? No long term effect! I got glasses when I was 30, but I think that's probably generic

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toomanyusesforaname@reddit

Eyelid flipping kids are all in insane asylums right now. Fucking monsters.

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FormidableMistress@reddit

Or local politicians.

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Still-Row2108@reddit

flipped eyelids are wild, knuckle cracking just feels like a bad idea now

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Not_a_werecat@reddit

Double-jointed knuckle-cracker checking in!

Never could gleek or do the eyelid thing though. My husband has me covered on those fronts!

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stm602@reddit

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SweetPrism@reddit

LOL

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al_m1101@reddit

What, no mention of the kids who could burp the alphabet?

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SweetPrism@reddit

Oh I hated those kids.

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pingus3233@reddit

Flipped-eyelid kid was also the top gleeker in my class.

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Checktheusernombre@reddit

Flipped Eyelid Kid headlining with special guest Knuckle Cracker

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OrangeAugust@reddit

What is gleeking?

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Corgibutz77@reddit

lol, we used to call it Viping. Like a viper...

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PistolGrace@reddit

https://www.verywellhealth.com/gleeking-11703444

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OrangeAugust@reddit

Ooh ok thanks. My brother used to be able to do that on command. I have done it accidentally a few times.

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PistolGrace@reddit

I had to look it up, thus it was in my clipboard.

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Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit

Spitting directly from the salivary glands located beneath the tongue.

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roopjm81@reddit (OP)

The people can do it can somehow use their tounge to shoot out a small stream of saliva like 4+ feet

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FnordRanger_5@reddit

When you squirt spit from under your tongue

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TheVexingRose@reddit

I used to be able to fold my ears and kind of tuck them into the hole so they were these little bumps.

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WendyPortledge@reddit

I was always hyper-mobile and yes, turned out that I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. It’s awesome. /s 🙃

Gleeking sounds disgusting and not something I knew from my gen.

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roopjm81@reddit (OP)

Oooh i hope you're doing ok! my mom had Ankylosing Spondylitis for most of her life! Debilitating pain

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WendyPortledge@reddit

Hey thanks! There are treatment options now that help, thankfully! But the ability to over-flex, while it didn’t cause the AS, it does mean I can easily overstrain and trigger it. I still think it’s cool that I can touch the ground with flat palms while standing thiugh, even if I shouldn’t. lol

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Awkwardpanda75@reddit

I can't explain this well, but making a water drip noise by leaving mouth halfway open then flicking my cheek while moving my tongue.

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ButterscotchAware402@reddit

Yo-yo spitting and tongue curling

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Felinius@reddit

Double joined kid here.

Turned out EDS runs in my family, which we found out when my grandmother and my mother both were diagnosed.

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ladyeclectic79@reddit

My hands are still okay (double jointed fingers) but I never could figure out how to gleek!

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PistolGrace@reddit

I can look at you, and make one of my eye balls look in other directions.

I wear progressive glasses now.

I can also make 1 loop, 2 loops, and 3 loops with my tongue. And I can turn it over.

I can also lick the bottom of my nose. My aunt could pick her nose with her tongue (we don't talk anymore so idk if she can still do it).

This didn't cause physical issues, but it landed an awesome husband.

Not double jointed or flexible, but i used to be able to put both feet behind my head and "walk" around on my hands.

I've had 1 neck surgery, and about to have nerve ablasion done on my neck, along with landing my now husband....

The medical bills stack up from hooligan stuff in our youth.

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

I can also roll my tongue into thirds!

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OshetDeadagain@reddit

I could do one and 3 with my tongue, but never 2! I remember watching an America's Funniest Home Videos where a girl could do 1 through 5!

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d3dk0w@reddit

I recently showed my toddler that I can still make that water drop sound with my mouth.

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

My husband can make all sorts of sounds with his mouth, this one included

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6thBornSOB@reddit

Did we all have a “burp the whole alphabet” kid too?

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

Mine was my aunt. She was/is so cool.

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PistolGrace@reddit

Those kids were legend... and i hope you aren't lactose intolerant...dairy!

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AshDogBucket@reddit

I could always do this thing where I popped my arm out of its socket.

No idea if it's more connected to that or to the 2 shoulder injuries (a dislocation from falling on the ice, and a seat belt injury from a car accident), but i have a chronic back/shoulder issue now. I have to get needles in my back and injections deeeeep into the shoulder joint. Very painful. Don't pop your arms out of your shoulders, kids!!!

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RushBubbly6955@reddit

I can gleek. My husband hates when I do it lmao

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miserabeau@reddit

I used to do handstand push-ups, splits, and put my ankles behind my head. Now I can barely get my ankle onto my knee to put on socks (spinal fusion T9-L3 + gained weight)

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iwantmy-2dollars@reddit

I can move my eyes independently. Make the left one go left while the right looks straight ahead, then make the left one straight and the right one look right.

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OshetDeadagain@reddit

Haha, to entertain my kids I "bonk" my eyeballs off each other - look left - cross eye - look right - cross eye - look left - repeat.

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PistolGrace@reddit

Same! Do you wear glasses? I have progressives.

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iwantmy-2dollars@reddit

Yay for stupid human tricks! Yes, I wear glasses/contacts and expect progressives in a few years. I attribute this ability to controllable lazy eye. When I’m tired my left drifts like sleepy driver.

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OshetDeadagain@reddit

Man, that's a word I haven't heard in forever! I was the gleek master at my school. It's been years since I've done that! Better go try.

Yep, still got it!

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SadAcanthocephala521@reddit

I can move my ears, apparently that's not common my GF tells me.

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OshetDeadagain@reddit

Me too! Together and independently! As a kid, I learned from an uncle that you could move them and dedicated myself to learning how. And growing up with horses who communicate with ear movements I would "pin" my ears back whenever I was mad at someone.

They do not notice.

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SadAcanthocephala521@reddit

lol. I learned to move mine because on summer eve i was 13 I needed corrective lenses and the glasses would slip down my nose as I was in the sun, somehow I learned to use my ears to pull them tight a little bit.

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PeterPunksNip@reddit

I can do that too 😁

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PistolGrace@reddit

My whole family does it.

My husband can not.

He can suck in his nostrils though. He can't flare them.

If I squint my nose, it looks like an arrow pointing down. I can flare mine and look like a gorilla.

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CompletelyBedWasted@reddit

Double jointed isn't a thing. It's hypermobility and it doesn't, usually, lead to arthritis. Just like popping your knuckles is just joint farts. Lol

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PistolGrace@reddit

I pop my knuckles constantly.

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CompletelyBedWasted@reddit

Just joint farts

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roopjm81@reddit (OP)

I never knew what it was properly called. I just remembered we called it double jointed. Thanks for the info!

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Natural-Hospital-140@reddit

Yeah my short answer was “most of them are now late-diagnosed autistic and figuring out they have Ehlers-Danos from other Redditors”.

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PickleFlavordPopcorn@reddit

Double jointed kid here, had my first steroid shot in a finger knuckle a couple months ago! It hurt!

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

Bubble blowing with saliva

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PistolGrace@reddit

Omg those always look cool. How did you do it?

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

I stick my tongue onto the top of my bottom lip then pulling my tongue back into my mouth creates the start of the bubble. Then you bring your tongue down and kind of scoop the bubble off of your lip and flat onto your tongue and then I fold my tongue a bit and slowly blow it off.

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PistolGrace@reddit

I used to do it accidentally. Those instructions didn't help! 😅 you rock though!

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

Sorry. It’s not the easiest thing to explain. Thank you as well.

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twistfunk@reddit

Are you from NE Ohio by any chance?

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

Nope I’m farther north, across the lake.

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TheLastBoat@reddit

I can still do it. It’s a skill I acquired in Junior High.

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

Ya me too I hadn’t done it a very long time but verified it when I made the post.

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Yeeaahfooool85@reddit

Like the little tiny ones you could shoot off your tongue?

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Pale_Leek2994@reddit

Those are the ones.

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BebopTundra76@reddit

A buddy of mine named Cliff could squirt milk out of his tear duct some way. It was gnarly😅

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mrs_hippiequeen@reddit

shooting milk through their eyes at the lunch table

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thisbitbytes@reddit

Yep fellow eye bubbler here. I’m lucky I didn’t shoot my eyeballs across the lunch table showing off this party trick.

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PistolGrace@reddit

How was it possible? Did it hurt?

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thisbitbytes@reddit

Nope. It happened when I would blow a really stuffed up nose and since nothing could come out little bubble tears would be forced out of my tear ducts. All that plumbing’s connected inside your head.

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mondomiketron@reddit

My wife had no idea what gleeking was so I gleeked on her and she got big mad

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tiny_purple_Alfador@reddit

I wasn't double jointed exactly, but I could bend my fingers around all weird. I can still do it, it doesn't hurt, but it is very crunchy sounding.

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fookewrdit@reddit

I was the double jointed kid, and have now been diagnosed with a genetic condition, that has caused spinal arthritis, chronic pain, among a whole slew of other health issues. Not fun. Can gleek too.

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Hairbear2176@reddit

I have a gap in my front teeth. Anyone who ever challenged me to a gleeking contest only did it once 😂

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Caftancatfan@reddit

I could wiggle my ears without using my hands and make my eyeballs vibrate in an unsettling way.

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gatsome@reddit

I can still gleek

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S0bchak@reddit

I can shart.

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PistolGrace@reddit

Always unexpected.

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CharismaticAlbino@reddit

Also the double jointed kids, how is your arthritis?

It hurts? Like, what kind of a question even is this?

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mb83@reddit

What about the kid who used to put the chain in his nose and make it come out of his mouth then wear it like a huge nose ring all day? Justin, wherever you are, I’m sure you have hepatitis

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PistolGrace@reddit

Oh wow. Definitely sinus issues at the least, right?

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GladosPrime@reddit

Some kid snorted a string and pulled it out his throat. Gross

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PistolGrace@reddit

I wonder what sinus issues they have now....

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mid_1990s_death_doom@reddit

Much to the woe of my baby sister, I can gleek on command at a distance of more than 4 feet.

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PistolGrace@reddit

As s baby sister, you suck. Lol

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Elevenyearstoomany@reddit

Former dancer, I can stand in first position with my feet turned out more than 180 degrees. I can’t go as far as I used to and can’t hold it as long but I can still do it. It really freaks people out.

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PistolGrace@reddit

I'm not a former dancer but have always been able to stand on the tips of my toes like a ballerina without the shoes.

I have the grace of a rhino at a dinner table.

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thisbitbytes@reddit

How are your hips? Former dancer/field hockey player and my hips are shot as well as my lower back.

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Elevenyearstoomany@reddit

My hips are still fine but between dance, skiing, and MMA, my knees are more delicate.

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Peanut083@reddit

It doesn’t cause pain, but I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. The double joy of having a larger/longer tongue than ‘normal’ and also a long, pointy nose.

If I really want to gross someone out, I put the tip of my tongue at my nostril opening. I can’t actually get it into my nose, but I can make it look convincing enough that it nearly always gets a disgusted look and an ‘ew’.

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jambr380@reddit

Armpit hand farting. I can still do it today

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PistolGrace@reddit

I never could do it. My husband said he couldn't do it either.

I found it hilarious when anyone could though!

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PistolGrace@reddit

For those of us who don't know what gleeking is...

https://www.verywellhealth.com/gleeking-11703444

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plantverdant@reddit

My joints are GARBAGE now.

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TheDevil-YouKnow@reddit

I'm a body cracker. Like everything fucking cracks. And now, it's so crazy that EVERYTHING fucking cracks. Now I just need to do the pianist finger stretch, and my hands go off like firecrackers. My neck and back crack 10 times a day, minimum. And not a little pop. I'm saying you can hear it from multiple feet away. Now my knees crack too whenever I'm sitting down and stretching. They go OFF! Sometimes it'll scare my wife.

None of it hurts though. It's always an immediate relief/release of tension and/or pressure. Satisfying as all Hell, but it definitely gives me old man vibes.

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Miami_Mice2087@reddit

you mean like

gif

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sunnyd311@reddit

I taught my 8 year old how to gleek over the summer!

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fictionalbandit@reddit

Eyelid flipping

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thisbitbytes@reddit

OMG my aunt who loved showing off her eyelid tricks and now always has blepharitis and other eye maladies. Do you think it’s related?

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fictionalbandit@reddit

I don’t actually think so, in my case. Two generations above me have had to have blephs so I think I just have flappy eyelids genetically

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Funny enough the only place I was double jointed in DOESN'T have arthritis... almost everywhere else on me feels like it does, though... ugh..

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

As a woman, I would occasionally demonstrate vagina farting (the actual word for it is escaping me at the moment because I’m old) if my friends begged hard enough. I had strong abs and could do it on command.

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_plays_in_traffic_@reddit

unfortunately ive seen an um, dancer, smoke a cigarette down there that way.

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_TheWolfOfWalmart_@reddit

That can't be good for the ol' cooch.

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Polkawillneverdie17@reddit

Better than chew, I guess.

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kellyk311@reddit

There's a lady at the clermont in Atlanta famous for this.

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FnordRanger_5@reddit

Mind if I smoke while you eat?

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

Once the boys in my high school turned 18 they had a lot of stories for me about the lady at the local gentlemen’s club who shot ping pongs balls across the room and asked if I would try (even in private). I declined.

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_TheWolfOfWalmart_@reddit

I was always amazed by a good queef. Nice work!

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mid_1990s_death_doom@reddit

I can also queef on command. It's good; it means your pelvic floor is strong!

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

Well mine is not anymore. But I agree it’s a good thing.

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Trick-Session2388@reddit

What a talent!

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TheLastBoat@reddit

My best friend since Kindergarten can repeatedly burp loud on command. So shout out to those who could burp the alphabet.

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Any-Tour4589@reddit

I can..uh…pop my boner like a knuckle.

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thisbitbytes@reddit

Can…you…uh…not…pls

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mjh8212@reddit

I can put my feet on top of my head. My left pinky finger bends at a 90 degree angle and I can scratch my whole back with either my left or right hand. My fingers on both hands spread out in this weird way like the pinky fingers are way farther than they should be. I have arthritis in both knees and hips my right knee and hip like to slip and sometimes I do a dip or I fall I have bursitis in both hips cause of falls I also have arthritis in the facet joints of my lower lumbar.

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

You definitely have EDS/hypermobility

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mjh8212@reddit

I’m seeing a new pain Dr and I actually checked the box that asks if I’m flexible or double jointed for the first time ever. Im a little scared but it makes sense

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xt0rt@reddit

I can make my eyes jiggle back and forth really fast. Then, in my 20s, I tried ecstasy and they did it all on their own.

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toomanyusesforaname@reddit

I knew anything kid who could do this. Almost like they're vibrating.

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_plays_in_traffic_@reddit

lmao, once the shitty e from the ny douches started taking over baltimore with shitty pills is when i had to quit in the late 90s. if i took two of those things my one eye would be squirrel finder. that ny shit and jawing all night ruined the good days of rolling.

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_TheWolfOfWalmart_@reddit

My friend could gleek on command. I could never do it unless by accident.

RIP Joey.

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